About 9rules

Tell Me More About This Awesome Site...

Our Mission, Our Values, Our Brand

9rules is a place where members and readers can connect, build relationships, and learn new things. 9rules started in 2003 with a set of 9 rules:

Love what you do.

Never stop learning.

Form works with function.

Simple is beautiful.

Work hard, play hard.

You get what you pay for.

When you talk, we listen.

Must constantly improve.

Respect your inspiration.

In 2006 we realized we had two needs to fill, those of our members and our readers. We found that our member and reader needs were very different and to make things more complex, the needs of our readers varied greatly. To address those issues a drastic change was required for the 9rules site. The new site, Ali, had two areas. One area for member content and one for socializing.

Hey, We Never Said We Were Perfect

When Ali launched there was confusion on what 9rules was. Was it a blog network? A portal? A social site? A Digg clone? A Delicious clone? Adding the new features confused our readers. At first The Triad thought it was a design issue but, after the new design launched, realized the root problem.

The 9rules brand was as a collection of blogs. Period.

And Then There Were Two...

The Triad realized they had to divide the site, clean up the site, get members in order...a lot of work needed to be done. So they did exactly what you'd expect: they took the month of December off rest up of course.

It took several months but on April 30, 2008 9rules was restored to a 9rules member content only site, sporting a brand new design.

What's In Store For 9rules Now?

Who knows? The story is still being written. When we know, we'll let you know.

If you would like to take a blast through the past, the Wayback Machine has an archive of links. Chawlk user David Hayes shared a list of different looks 9rules had over the years. Feel free to browse and view how 9rules evolved over time.